Freaks
by Aura of Darkness Night
Summary: A year after Sherlock's death, John met Mary. Two years after, John and Mary moved in together. Two and a half years after Sherlock's death, John met 15 year old Ivory. She showed him that Sherlock wasn't the only freak in the world. John showed Ivory that she didn't have to be alone. UA, (Universe Alterations.) John/Mary. OCs. Adventure/Family. Un-Beta'd.
1. Chapter 1

A year after Sherlock's death, John met Mary. Two years after, John and Mary moved in together. Two and a half years after Sherlock's death, John met 15 year old Ivory. She showed him that Sherlock wasn't the only freak in the world.

"John! Detective Lestrade's on the phone!"

"Coming," Quick footsteps on wooden stairs and a few seconds later John entered the room, taking the phone from Mary smoothly before putting it to his ear "Greg,"

"_John, look I'm sorry to call you on the weekend but there's been – Hey! You have to- - Somebody take that kid back to wherever she came from!"_ The police detective's voice rose from the other end of the phone

"Lestrade, who was that?" John asked, facial features turned to confusion as he paced through the rooms of his and Mary's apartment, phone still to his ear

"_Some girl shouting nonsense, anyway, there's been an accident. We could use your... err... expertise." _

"Where are you, I'll get a cab."

"_Head for Monument, where down at the riverside. I'll see you there."_ A few beeps and the phone went dead. John stared at the thing for a moment before headed to the hall and grabbing his coat

"Mary I'm going out. Lestrade's got another one." John calls as he pulled his leather gloves on, he got no response from Mary, however went up to her and kissed her cheek before heading out the door and to the main street in search of a taxi.

After finally waving down a taxi, it had taken several cabs to fly past for one to notice him, he was on his way. While getting down to the scene, Lestrade texted him some of the details, female victim, 23 years old, apparently drowned.

After the taxi pulled up and John paid, he headed down to the riverside where Lestrade was waiting along with a forensics team and multiple different police officers specifically placed around the crime scene.

"Glad you're here." Greg called as he ducked under the yellow tape and held his hand out for a firm handshake with John willingly gave

"So what's different about her?" John asked

"Well apart from the fact that she's a diving expert and she somehow managed to drown herself with an oxygen tank on her back, not much." Lestrade explained as they walked to the body "Her name's Eliza Whitefield, diving enthusiast. Been all over the world diving according to her records and website, ran a small diving shop here with her long term partner Daniel Smith." the sheet was covering the woman when they got close but one of the forensics' team members pulled it up for John to get a better look.

Chocolate coloured hair, dyed for sure with ginger at the roots, very pale skin with a few freckles on her cheeks. Equipped in full diving gear including a full tank of oxygen, flippers and mask, from the indentations of the sand she must have been there for a number of hours

"How does an expert diver drown?" John exclaimed, he really was lost; Sherlock always worked out the hard cases like this, Sherlock, two and a half years and the name still made John shiver "Do we know anything else?" He looked up to Greg

"Not much, we've sent officers to collect her partner. I'm hoping that forensics can tell us more, eventually." Greg's tone didn't seem like he was counting on it.

"Who was that woman?" John then asked, remembering their earlier conversation on the phone, "The girl that interrupted you down the phone." He continued and Greg let out a laugh

"Foster kid, Ivory I think her name was, barrelled in here shouting something about the woman, when I asked her how she knew the victim all she said was 'I don't.' So got officer's to send her home, crazy kid." Greg explained before Donovan waved him over, clipboard in her hand as always "Gotta head off. I'll call you if we get anything else." And with that Greg was jogging back up to Donovan and the other officers.

Three days had passed since the death of the diver, Eliza Whitefield. The forensic results had come back, she had indeed drowned. The long term partner was suspected of murdering her, bitter that the woman wouldn't marry him even after five years together. Without any hard evidence it was near impossible to even arrest him let alone charge him. John had been trying his best to find any sort of evidence that could link the death and the boyfriend but came up with none. The papers, once getting around to reporting it – apparently a celebrity throwing up outside a party was more interesting news for a time – had played it off as a horrible accident and the boyfriend merely played it off to the reporters that surrounded his house.

Mary had tried to be supportive, but even she couldn't stop John's irritation, John knew he'd never be as good as Sherlock, he wished the man was still here, he would have known what happened, the minute he was on a crime scene he knew what had happened, John lacked that skill, that genius mind.

John kept thinking back to the first phone call, the girls voice, although it was only a few words she seemed like she wanted to help. And on the third day he decided to visit her at the children's home she was residing at. Once arriving, John met with the head carer of the house Ms Edna Thorn in her office on the first floor, it was quite a large room, very symmetrical and dull, the colours stuck to a monotone beige or even a dulled cream. Edna was a tall slim woman; her hair was a dull blonde, turning grey and was pulled into a bun. She had misty brown eyes, always sharp and accusing as well as a mole above her left eyebrow. John could tell the woman hid her wrinkles and bags with an astounding amount of make-up and other beauty products alike. The woman must have been in her fifties, if not early sixties and sat bold upright, hands folded perfectly in her lap, she wore a dress below her knees, thick tights and a pair of small heeled office like shoes which could have done with a polishing.

"Mr Watson, Ivory is a... Difficult child. I doubt anything she said had any real meaning." She commented simply, her eyes darting around the room before she leaned toward John "If you where asking me I'd say she's a bit of a... a freak." John twitched but kept a calm demeanour

"Still, I'd like to have a chat with her." He replied

"If you must, but I warn you Mr Watson, she isn't company at all." Ms Thorn led John through the house, up to the third floor and the last room in the unimaginably long corridor "Here we are, Mr Watson." Edna commented before knocking on the dark wooden door three times, each spaced out perfectly before swiftly opening the door "Ivory, you have a guest."


	2. Chapter 2

The room was dark, gloomy and decrepit. High walls covered with Florentine wallpaper in a murky green colour with some hints of brown around the edges of the design. The window, a dollhouse looking thing with off-white painted wood with had not had a new coat of paint in a long time looked as though it had been nailed shut from the inside as well as the out.

Ivory was sat at the head of her bed, and old moth eaten thing which stood on four metal stands, one which seemed to be looser than the others creating a squeaking sound if the small girl where to move, knees up to her chin with her eyes shut like she was concentrating on something. Her hair was a mousy brown colour, tied in to a loose band to form a simple ponytail. She wore a baggy red hoody with some skinny black jeans, minimal jewellery a pair of studded silver earrings and a thin chain necklace. It was only a second or so after the two entered the room that she opened her eyes to take them both in. Ivory's eyes focused more on John, darting up and down his figure before turning back to Edna

"Mrs Thorn. Your nose is shiny." Ivory stated no introduction as such, just a playfully sarcastic tilt of her head. Edna's eyes widened and she put her hand over her nose, tried to smile at John like nothing was happening before excusing herself. John chuckled and looked over to Ivory who was now stood and looked out the window in to the rain

"Her nose wasn't shiny." John commented as he took a few more steps in to the room, letting the door shut. He sat on the end of the bed watching her

"It's the comment that makes her leave the room quickest." Ivory admits with a shrug

"You don't like her that much?" John asks

"She calls me a freak."

"Do you know why?" Ivory turns to John with a smirk

"Because her mind is dull and lifeless compared to mine," She explains before adding "I'm always the smartest person in the room. It show's her up, or so she thinks, but she doesn't really need any help with that." Its John's turn to smile and his grin soon turns to laughter when he can't hold it in. She lets out a small chuckle too before she begins pacing the room, John notices that she specifically misses out one floorboard every time she goes back and forward "Why are you here, Mr John H Watson." She asks

"How do you know my full name?" He returns the question with one of his own

"I read your blog." She comments "Not often, only when I can get on the computers, usually the dimb-stick twins are on Facebook."

"The... The dimb-stick twins?" John asked with a raise of one eyebrow

"Bottle blonde, stick thin, princesses of the world, IQ of a fish... That's if you put both their brains together of course." Ivory rhymes them off like she's said them before and smiles to herself as she does so

"You where at the crime scene three days ago," John starts and Ivory immediately turns to him, eyes sharp and intent on more "I heard your voice, down the phone. You wanted to tell us something."

"Have you solved it?"

"No."

"Really?! I took you for more intelligent than that." Ivory mumbled before jumping on the top of the bed where she was before "You want me to help?"

"I want to know what you think you know." John replied honestly

"Think? I know, I can show you. I can, please." Ivory leaned closer to him, eyes wide and acting cute

"I don't know if I can take you away from Ms Thorn"

"Forget her she's a dimwit." Ivory snapped before jumping up again, throwing opened her wardrobe and grabbing a thin waterproof coat.

"She could call the Police." John returns as he stands up, the floorboard creeks and when he looks down at it he remembers that it's the one Ivory purposely missed when she was pacing.

"Oh please whenever she finds me missing she jumps for joy. I could be gone for a week, would be the best week of her life." Ivory is half way out of her room, only holding the door for John for two seconds before letting it slip away from her, John hurries to keep up with the teen "She'd do anything to get rid of the freak. By the way if I end up murdered and they call you in it was her."

"What about the dimb-stick twins?" John asks humorously

"Far too stupid to even think about it, gods forbid they ever try and think at all."

They get to the lobby quickly however when turning the corner for the exit Edna stands at one side, just coming from the bathrooms

"What's going on here?" She asked as she slowly walked toward the two of them, trying to act sophisticated however instead looked a little ungainly. Ivory slowly pulls the hood from her waterproof jacket over her head before setting off running, she was through the doors and out of the house in less than 10 seconds, Ms Thorn shouting after her and John stood there not knowing what to do when she turned back to him

"Um, she... She asked if we could walk around, um, I didn't expect her to take off." John lied, trying to make it seem genuine

"Little freak, don't worry she'll come back eventually." Edna hissed before strolling back over to John "I hope she wasn't too much of a... delinquent for you." And with that the woman headed back to her office and John headed out. He pulled up the hood of his jacket and looked around, Ivory was nowhere in sight, he decided to walk in the direction that he saw her run to try and see if he could somehow manage to track her down and around two blocks down a figure popped out of the shadows and began walking next to him

"Sorry, had to run." Ivory muttered, her waterproof was zipped up now and the hood covered more of her face

"Yes well, that's for leaving me with the dragon lady." John replied with a sigh, Ivory only looked up at him with a smirk at the name he chose "Come on let's find a cab." John then commented before looking up and down the street. He saw one coming and started waving but it seemed to be ignoring him. Only when Ivory decided to stand half way in the road with her hand out did he finally slow down and pull up for the two of them. John looked to her and shook his head "Typical." He muttered and got in the black cab after her

"Crime scene first." Ivory chimed, John looked at her but didn't argue, he simply gave the cab driver the directions and they were off

"You called her Mrs." John looked over at Ivory

"She takes her ring off for work. Her skin is almost translucent where the band should be. She's embarrassed by him so much she's never forgotten to take it off. Never once have I seen it."

"Why would that mean she was embarrassed by him?" John asked "Maybe she just didn't want any of the kids to steal it."

"Isn't it obvious? Something you want to hide, to keep away from everybody else in case they judge you on it. She's a prude, thinks she's married below her class so tries to remove herself from that part of her life whenever possible, even changed her title from Mrs to Ms, clearly a sign of denial on her part. I feel sorry for him if I'm honest; he has to deal with the bitch when she comes home. Plus never once has he visited her at work, it's clear that she's the dominant one of the marriage and whatever she says goes." The words rolled of Ivory's tongue without even the tiniest hint of a problem, John begins to laugh

"You know you remind me of-" He started however was interrupted

"Sherlock Holmes."

"How did you?-"

"Everybody knows Sherlock Holmes," She commented, after a few seconds of silence she looked over to the stunned John Watson "Every freak knows Sherlock Holmes. He'd be nothing without his blogger."


	3. Chapter 3

Ivory had spent all of half an hour jumping over the crime scene, which was nearly abandoned by the forensics team and police. Only one or two of the police force stayed behind to make sure no excitably kids tried finding something they may have missed. The rise and fall of the tide had all but destroyed any evidence that could have still been on the beach and to anybody but her and an infamously dead detective, the scene was completely useless.

While John had tried to get a few more details in to Ivory, he was failing dramatically, she was either ignoring him or so concentrated on the scene that she didn't even realise he had been trying to talk to her. John couldn't shake how much she reminded him of Sherlock, he started to feel guilty, is that was he had been hoping for when he went to that home? To find somebody like Sherlock, John got the feeling that he may have subconsciously been trying to replace Sherlock with somebody to stop feeling less lonely. Perhaps he should take her back, apologise for getting her hopes up. But he didn't have the heart to stop her.

After a few more minutes at the crime scene, six minutes and twenty seven seconds to be specific. Ivory felt happy that she had gathered all the information she could and turned back to John, who seemed to be having a debate with himself, his expression and stance told her as much, a hand to his chin and lowered eyebrows, leaning on one leg and then to the other with his other hand bunched in to a fist with his arm by his side but raised slightly in a dog-leg shape.

"Can I see the body?" Ivory chirped as she came back to stand in front of John who flinched

"Of course not!" He replied quickly "I can't take a kid to a morgue!" He looked rather horrified

"Why not?!" Ivory replied, crossing her arms over her chest

"You're fourteen-"

"Fifteen,"

"Fifteen, how am I supposed to clear that with the manager?" John placed a hand on his hip, looking down on her, trying to prove his point

"Tell him that she's smarter at fifteen then he ever will be." She retorted shortly

"How'd you know you're smarter than him?" John challenged

"Because everyone in this dull little country is an idiot, spare a few." John began laughing and shook his head

"I'll see what I can do." He commented "But I'm not promising anything." The older man commented, before heading back up the riverside and to the main road "We better get you back to the home."

"No!" Ivory blurted, just before rooting herself to the spot "Please don't send me back yet." She looked over at John with one of her best puppy eyed faces; she would never admit that she had practiced the face for such occasions; otherwise she would never have even tried it on John who seemed to be squirming on the spot

"Come on Ivory, she'll call the police eventually."

"No she won't! Come on John please!" She whined, still looking at him with wide eyes, John sighed and placed a hand on his head, fingers nipping the ridge of his nose as though he was making a hard choice, which he probably was with all of the small girls persisting

"Fine but you're back there by eight." John caved and Ivory nearly jumped for joy, she would have done if she hadn't been in public as a number of people where watching them from the top of the riverbed, one man with a camera. Once John had turned to look up at the bank-side the camera went off and several flashes later Ivory was left somewhat stunned, John grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her along

"Who was that?" She asked, still blinking quite rapidly to try and get the effects of the flash to leave her vision

"Paparazzi, trying to write an article on how I've lost it," John replied, continuing to drag her along "I thought they had all given up by now." He mutters to himself, Ivory doesn't question it. She just keeps up until they reach a road and track down a taxi before the cameraman can catch up to them.

After approximately two point three minutes in the cab, John relaxes, he slouches slightly from his perfect posture, however still doesn't lounge like Ivory. John hadn't really thought about where they were going, and instead of telling the cabby to go to his shared house with Mary, they were going to 221B. He only hoped that the photography wasn't following them, people really would talk if they saw John going back after all this time.

When they arrived John ushered the young girl in. Nobody seemed to be followed them and for that John was grateful, he stepped in only a few seconds later to Mrs Hudson giving the two of them a strange look before walking up to hug John, she hadn't found anybody to rent the flats too after Sherlock, everybody thought that the place would be haunted or something like that, so the place was abandoned save for Mrs Hudson

"It's been an awful long time John, how are you?" the older woman asked, not waiting for a reply before she turned to Ivory "Hello young lady, who might you be running around with John?" She asked however once again didn't wait for an answer "Well come on in, I'll make you some tea." She then headed toward her kitchen

"Thank you Mrs Hudson," John called as he pulled off his coat, Ivory doing the same beside him

"Just this once while you're a guest!" She chimed from the kitchen "I'm not your house keeper!" She added and chuckled to herself.


End file.
